(A/N : Kay I've already got some good ideas for amazing people all across the internet on the courting well exempt for the poison dragon but I'm not pushing anyone to think about it it's your own free will to help me if you want. But for now I will stick to the main courting rules for gifts and strength. But will take some into consideration right now. Also here is what is going to go down with why I need the courting thing. Almost all the dragons will trying to court Gray in exception to Laxus, Wendy, Sting, and Rogue. As to why. Laxus has been courting Freed for awhile. Wendy is to young. Sting and Rogue are made for each other. Gajeel will flirt with Gray and so will Cobra by they will move on to their own mates. Which are Levy and Jellal. The Jellal one is because I like the pair and I don't see enough of it. Okay that's my peace. And I'd mostly like to thank you all for your help with this. You all make me want to continue writing and become an author of my own original book one day. And if I do I hope you all read it and love my writing as you do now as well. I love you all.)
'Courting? What-why would I be courting Gray? I just met him.'
Thought like that swirled in Natsu's head as Gray took his boot off Natsu's chest and walked off. The ice tail melted and turned to mist in the blink of an eye. When Natsu moved his head up he thought he saw Gray swaying his hips slightly.
Or was that just a trick with his walk? But Gray just walked into the guild to go get his stamp on him along with Eclipse. He walked up to the bar and waited for who was going to stamp him.
Eclipse was held in his arms like a little doll not that she minded. It felt nice to be held. Gray sat on a bar stool and just started to stroke the fur on her head making her purr.
He was nervous sure. Was he suppose to win? Did he damage Natsu's pride horribly and did that make Natsu think he'd be a terrible mate? So many questions like this were running around in his head that he didn't know that the bar maid who gave Erza her cake came up behind him.
Well until she poked his shoulder. The action caused him to grow icy scales on his shoulder till he looked around and say the woman with white hair. She merely continued smiling with her eyes closed.
One look would make anyone thing she was harmless but Gray could smell it. She had quite a bit of power hidden under her skin. So he'd stay on her nice side. She spoke in a soft bubbly voice as she introduced herself.
"Hi I'm Mirajane. And you must be Gray right?"
Gray nodded and waited for Mirajane to continue talking. He never broke eye contact with her. Mira seemed to realize that Gray wasn't much of a talker with still getting comfortable with speak like them so she just continued.
"Well I mostly just came over here to give you the Fairy Tail mark and also this one as well. But with her it might be a bit hard to see because of her coloration."
Gray just gave a small chuckle and opened the button up he was wearing and pointed over his heart. Mira smiled and asked him the color he would like.
"Could you make it a two-tone color or make it have an outline."
Mira nodded and set the ink down which she had Gray place his hand over. the ink turned to a dark navy blue with an ice blue in the center. Mira pressed the stamp in the ink then to the place Gray indicated before hand.
Once it was pressed to his skin some magic sparkled to make the ink permanent unless it was forcibly removed later. It was quite the sight having a two colored guild crest. Mira found the colors really pretty together.
With Gray done she got a slightly smaller stamp and had Eclipse pick the color. With her being four colors it seemed hard to find the right spot on her back to stamp her with and the right color.
But they found a spot that wasn't covered in spots and was half black and half white. The ink was two colors and only an outline for Eclipse. It was gold on the white and bright red on the black.
With both of them stamped Mira went behind the bar and started to serve other patrons. When she got back to Gray who hasn't moved from the stool. He seemed to be looking at the laminated menu.
Walking over she asked it he wanted. Gray was about to shake his head no when his stomach growled. The sound seemed to echo across the guild. Yeah he was hungry. But he didn't go hunting earlier and he had no money at the minute.
Mira just smiled and told him all new guild members get free meals and drinks for a week so they can go on jobs and get some money. Gray smiled and accepted her offer. By ordering a large milkshake of whatever flavor she wanted to give him.
He also asked if they had any fruit that he and Eclipse could much on. Mira nodded and went to get the order. While she was gone warmth slowly came up to Gray. When he looked back he found Natsu holding a plate of chicken that smelled extremely spicy.
The spices almost made Gray cough and his eyes and nose to run. Natsu sat in the stool by Gray with Happy siting next to him on the bar munching on a fish.
Mira came back with two milkshakes and a platter of fruit. It had a multitude of different fruits. Thanking Mira Gray took the milkshakes and fruit and handed the smaller milkshake to Eclipse. Who was busily munching on a juicy starfruit.
The juice was running down her jaw and face and she seemed happy with it. Gray gave a light purr and turned to his milkshake. Only to be stopped by a piece of chicken being wagged in his face. The smell alone made his mouth go dry.
He coughed lightly his hand covering his mouth and pushed the chicken out of his face. When he looked at Natsu it wasn't the most attractive sight. His cheeks were bloated with some of the chicken hanging out over his lip. Still holding it close to Gray's mouth and face he spoke with his mouth full.
"You want some frosty?"
A but uncomfortable but not wanting to be rude nodded and went to take a piece off Natsu's plate till the piece in Natsu's hand was shoved in his face again.
Huffing a sigh Gray opened his mouth and let Natsu feed him the chicken. Natsu gently placed it in his mouth and waited for Gray to close his mouth fingers still inside. Getting the idea of what Natsu was doing unwittingly Gray closed his lips over Natsu's fingers.
And lightly sucked them. With wide eyes Natsu slowly pulled his fingers out of Gray's mouth slowly and watched Gray chew the chicken as he licked his now wet fingers. His inner dragon purring at the sight.
The taste wasn't something Gray would eat everyday maybe in order to help him get over a bug but not everyday. He was more used to elk and deer in a cool stew.
But once he swallowed the burn of the spices kicked in. When he breathed out his breath produced steam and his skin started to flush. Quickly he started to suck on his milkshake.
Once the cold creamy texture touched his tongue and went down his throat it cooled and the burn was slowly eased. Gray huffed after the burn was finally eased and it seemed smoke came out of his nose for the remaining heat in his body.
"You okay frosty? You didn't like it?"
"No it's just . . . I prefer cold food over hot. . . unless I'm sick . . . that is."
With another light cough to clear his throat of the spice. Eclipse stopped munching on her second starfruit and handed it to Gray saying she was getting full. Giving a warm slight smile he took the fruit and lightly froze it.
Unbeknownst to him Natsu took a suck on hi milkshake. Why was he doing this. Giving Gray some of his food and stealing some form Gray. What is going on with him?
'Court him.'
'What?'
'We are courting.'
There's that word again. Court. What did it mean. Getting up Natsu went over to Lucy who was looking at the job board wanting to get a head start on another mission so she could most likely have extra money for emergencies and such.
"Hey Luce."
"Yes Natsu what do you need?"
"What does courting mean?"
Lucy stood staring at the the board for a minute with widened eyes.
'This is Natsu right?'
She turns to look at Natsu and asks.
"What?"
"What does courting mean?"
"Uhh. . . who are you and what have you done to Natsu?"
Natsu gave a confused look but shook his head.
"Fine if you won't tell me I'll ask Erza what it means."
Just as he was about to leave Lucy grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back to her.
"I'm sorry it's just strange. But why do you want to know what courting means Natsu?"
"It's just something Gray said earlier and something with my magic wanting to do it for some reason."
Lucy looked at Gray at the bar who was eating the fruit with Eclipse curled up in his folded arm in a small food coma. Gray said something about courting but why?
Trailing her eyes back to Natsu then to Gray and back again. In her head she started to see the moment when Gray was sharing the dragon knowledge to Natsu.
Her nose started to drip a bit of blood but she quickly wiped it away before Natsu saw it. Lucy cleared her throat and looked at Natsu about to tell him what courting was.
"Natsu you see courting is when you want to grab the attention of a partner you have an interest in."
Natsu 'oh'ed and then went off to do his own thing. Once Lucy deemed him out of dragon hearing range she squealed and raced to Levy who was pouring over the books she brought back.
"So Levy how are the books?"
"These are amazing Lulu. I've never seen or heard of a dragon language before. And you say Gray can speak and read this flawlessly?"
"Yep he was raised by a dragon just like Natsu but the strange thing is she stuck around and took him to another country!"
"Wow. Well could you bring him over here so he can translate at least the alphabet for me so I can get a handle on it?"
"No problem."
Lucy left Levy and walked over to Gray who was finished with his food and petting a comatose Eclipse. She made her presence known and got his attention.
"Hey Gray."
Gray 'hmm'ed and looked at Lucy while adjusting Eclipse holding her like a baby. Lucy explained how Levy wanted to know the dragon language and he seemed to brighten up. Both walked back to Levy who stood up and held out her hand introducing herself.
Gray accepted the hand and shook it. All three sat down at the table and Gray started to show Levy the language he grew up with. Occasionally he'd revert to the dragon tongue but quickly went back to mortal.
As those two were conversing Lucy started to read from the book containing more on each dragon species. She flipped to the ice dragon entry.(If any of you got that the page number from Anger and Retaliation spells out ice then I applaud you)
It had a picture of a dragon looking like Isis drawn beautifully in ink and paint and it seemed to be in a snowstorm. It looked seamless like it had no scales to speak of. Tearing her eyes off the artwork she read the description.
Ice dragons are calm and won't attack anything exempt for survival. They are comprised mostly of females and submissive males. Dominant males have a different coloration being a black ice color instead of the clear like the females or the ice blue of the submissive males.
Their scales are found for the ability to make the wearer more resistant against cold weather when infused with ice or snow magic. Ice dragons are also know for their amazing singing voice. It is both haunting and melodic at the same time.
This dragon like many others have been given nicknames related to their ice. But one of the most prominent name they go by is from when their Queen Isis suffered the ultimate loss. It is called the dragon of a thousand frozen tears.
From this nickname came a legend on how the stars were made from all of her shed tears. The legend goes that with the loss of her family she died and was reborn as the moon. But still being so lonely she cried. The tears froze and got stuck in the inky black of the sky.
They may shine but they are just a symbol of her loss and the agony of her loneliness.
Lucy looked to Gray. He was smiling and pointing at the page while gesturing with his hands. He smile was big enough to show his sharp teeth. When he laughed the scales on his necklace clinked and shimmered in the light of the guild.
Off in the back of the guild a little shadow flew up the stairs to the second floor and took a piece of paper off the board. No one was the wiser. The day dragged on and it was finally time to go home. With no other place to go Lucy offered Gray her house to stay till he found his own.
Accepting the offer and promising to pay her back for her kindness they walked to her little house. They walked in and Gray stopped at the threshold when he smelled burning apple wood.
When Lucy flicked the light on Natsu was laying on her bed. He had a huge smile on his face but that was wiped off when Lucy kicked him in the head.
"Why'd you do that Lucy?!"
"You're in my house!"
"But Gray's here!"
"I invited him to stay here till he has his own place!"
" . . . Oh . . ."
Lucy wilted and bent in half at Natsu's explanation. But after the explanation he smiled and showed them a piece of paper. Lucy gasped with wide eyes as she looked at the paper. Confused Gray asked.
"What's so shocking?"
"He has and S class quest. And that is unapproved."
"Hey we should go on this it has a huge pay out."
"No Natsu it's not allowed."
Natsu grimaced his dragon needed an ego boost especially being beat by Gray. The paper held the reward and it said Galuna Island.